Sandra Jo McDaniel

Sandra married Joseph Yancy Nichols in Private. Joseph was born in Private. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Michael Paul Nichols was born in Private.
2. Nancy Dawn Nichols was born in Private.

Notes:

Rad worked at a refinery. He was a Feed & Seed Manager, automotive parts salesman and manager. He also had a
dairy farm. Anita and Rad lived on the Sid Bassett home place, where they had a dairy farm. They kept the place in a high state of repair. It is a beautiful farm and has been in the same family for over 100 years.


Cooke County History: Past and Present
Joseph Rad and Mary Anita (Hafford) McDaniel

Joseph Rad McDaniel was born June 02, 1910, in Cooke County, Texas.
Rad was the oldest of four children born to Jim and Sally McDaniel. Mary Anita
(Hafford) was born February 11, 1910, in Cooke County, Texas, in the
Woodbine/Dye community. Mary Anita was the third oldest child of four children
born to Luther and Amy Hafford. Amy Hafford died when Mary Anita was three
years of age. Luther never remarried.
Rad and Mary Anita married on July 11, 1936. Rad worked at Tydal
Refinery, Gainesville, Texas, during the early years of their marriage, and
they lived in Gainesville. Later, they moved to the farm, and Rad was a farmer
and dairyman while also working in Gainesville in the feed business and
automotive parts retail business.
Mary Anita was a homemaker and community leader, returned to college,
and subsequently taught homemaking at the Gainesville State School for Girls.
Rad and Mary Anita retired in 1975.
Rad and Mary Anita had three children: Jerry, the eldest, Bob, and
Sandy. Jerry married Carla Jo Bush of Gainesville and moved to Virginia. Bob
married Dartha Lynch, divorced, and resides in California. Sandy married Joe
Nichols, and they reside on the fourth-generation farm where Sandy was raised.
The farm was first purchased by Mary Anita's grandfather, Sidney Algern
Bassett, in 1883. Her father, Luther Hafford, resided here next, and Mr.
Hafford then sold the farm to Mary Anita and Rad McDaniel.
Mary Anita developed Alzheimer's Disease and is and has been a nursing
home resident since 1983.
Rad, at age eighty-one, remains active and healthy, and, as suc
tends to the needs of Mary Anita at the nursing home, which required almost
sixty miles driving on a daily basis. Article by Joe Nichols.

Joseph married Mary Anita Hafford on 11 Jul 1936 in Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas. Mary (daughter of Luther Coleman Hafford and Amy Florence Bassett) was born on 11 Feb 1910 in Sarita, Texas; died in Deceased. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary and Joseph were married by Ray Hand, Minister.

Notes:

Luther worked as a cook on the St. Frances River several years for the loggers. When his parents moved to Texas in December of 1896, he stayed behind to bring the things they owned. He rode down on an Immigrant-Box-Car on the train. Everything they owned was placed in one car. Stalls were built for the animals and he was responsible for their care. He became a Produce and Poultry farmer. He turned the Texas Bassett Farm into a Poultry Farm.

Luther married Amy Florence Bassett on 4 Jan 1903 in Cooke County, Texas. Amy (daughter of Algernon Sidney Bassett and Frances Ellen Nichols) was born on 30 Mar 1875 in Foster Township, Marion County, Illinois; died on 12 Feb 1913 in Bassett Homestead near Gainsville, Cooke County, Texas; was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Amy came to Texas as a child with her parents. The Civil War was over and also the Indian trouble had moved west, no longer a threat to the Gainesville area. She became a teacher in Salem, Texas from 1901-02. A near
tragedy occurred when an irate mother took a hammer and beat Amy and left her for dead on a lonely country road. She was discovered and was taken home. She decided being a housewife was a much safer job, so she stayed home and helped her husband.

Notes:

Algernon and Frances moved to Texas and raised a large family.

Sid's mother died when he was only 9 years old. His father remarried
two years later. Life was not easy being a son of a farmer in the early days.
It was very hard work.
In 1857, Sid's father moved from Indiana to Foster Township, Marion
County, Illinois, hoping to secure a better life for himself and his family.
The Bassetts were one of the early settlers of the county. They first lived in
a log cabin, but soon built a nice frame house.
Sid's father enlisted in the 111th Illinois Infantry, 18 Sep 1862. But
because of his age, Sid soon went in to replace his father. Although Sid is
not recorded as having fought in the Civil War, he did so under his father's
name. The following is from his diary:

"Sunday Jan 1st 1865"
This is the beginning of a new year. May peace dawn before its close.
Cool but warmer than one year ago. I am at Mound City, Illinois. We are
expecting to be paid soon. There has been no news from Sherman since he left
Savannah, Ga. Unwell.

"Tuesday 3rd"
There is an examination for the V.R.C. The Dr. wants me to go into it
but I would rather go to my Rgt. Unwell.

"Thursday 5th"
There was a sale of the deceased Soldiers' effects. They went very
cheap.
"Tuesday 10th"
Considerable snow and rain. I have a very bad cold. Hosp. fu
sick.

After the war, Sid returned home to Marion County, Illinois. He
married in 1867 into the also prominent Nichols family of Foster Township.
Life was once again saddened for them as their first child died in 1869, at
the age of one month and ten days.
On 7 Apr 1873, Sid bought 40 acres, Sec. 23, Twp. 4, Range 2, f
$5.00 from his father and step-mother. This was in Foster Township near the
homestead.
Sid was a very intelligent man. He read and studied everything. He
became a practicing country doctor in Pleasant Grove, an area in Foster
Township. Taken from the 8 Nov 1878 Marion County Herald, "Dr. A. S. Bassett
resumes his practice at Pleasant Grove."
In 1879 Sid and his wife and four children moved to Cooke Count
Texas. They left Salem by wagon. The roads were bad and there were few
bridges. When streams were up they camped and waited for the water to recede.
The trip took 27 days.
Sid purchased a farm 1½ miles southwest of Woodbine from Henry Nelson,
who had homesteaded it. After farming for three years, he went into the
nursery business. He named it Spring Dale Nursery. He operated it for
approximately 20 years. He planted many trees including pines, oak, cedar,
magnolia, pear, crepe myrtle and pecan, of which are still living in 1988. One
of the pine trees which is now dead, hit by lightning, exceeded the 1981 state
champion loblolly pine in diameter by 8 inches.
Sid also had a variety of shade and fruit trees and shrubs. One of his
newly propagated apples won first prize at the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago and
was named "Capitola".
In connection with his nursery business, he made fine wines from his
fruits. And after many years of successful business, he and his wife, a
daughter Mary Belle, moved to Sarita, Texas.
Sid had a brilliant mind and he never quit trying to learn more. He
often wrote for magazines and newspapers.
Besides trips to see his children and trips back to Illinois to visit
his brothers and their families, Sid lived out the remaining years of his life
in Sarita, Texas.


1880 Federal Census of Foster, Marion County, Illinois (22 Jun 1880)
Sydney A. Bassett 35 M IN IN IN Head Farmer
Frances E. 30 F IL NY IL Wife Keeping House
Walter 9 M IL IN IL Son
Mary 7 F IL IN IL Daughter
Amy 5 F IL IN IL Daughter
Harry 3 M IL IN IL Son
Fillmore Nichols 24 M IL NY IL BroL Farmer

1900 Federal Census of Precinct 1, Cooke County, Texas (16 Jun 1900)
A. Bassett 65 M Mar 1845 IN IN IN Head Nurseryman
Frances E. 50 F Mar 1850 IL NY IL Wife
Mary 26 F Dec 1873 IL IN IL Daughter
Amy 25 F Mar 1875 IL IN IL Daughter
& 1 Boarder
(Married 33 years, 5 children, 4 living)


The Dallas Morning News, 16 Feb 1936
E.S. Bassett, Early Cooke Resident, Dies

GAINESVILLE, Texas, Feb. 15 – E. S. Bassett, 90, who came to Cooke
County from Indiana sixty years ago and operated a fruit farm and nurse
seven miles east of Gainesville, will be buried Sunday.
He died Friday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Patterson of
Sarita, Kenedy County. Besides Mrs. Patterson, two sons and two brothers
survive.

Algernon married Frances Ellen Nichols on 9 Oct 1867 in Marion County, Illinois. Frances (daughter of David Nichols and Mary J. Foster) was born on 12 Mar 1850 in Foster Township, Marion County, Illinois; died on 4 Apr 1917 in Sarita, Kenedy County, Texas; was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Cooke County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]